The Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches has launched an interactive website as part of its celebrations to mark the 500th anniversary in 2009 of the birth of Protestant reformer Jean Calvin.

"We want Calvin to come alive for the people of our time through this Web site," the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and chairperson of the Web site's committee of patrons, said when the site was launched on 28 September 2007.

The website http://www.calvin09.org presents in four languages a calendar of jubilee events worldwide, and information on Calvin's life and teaching.

The Reformer was born on 10 July 1509 in Noyon in northern France but is known worldwide for his role in the Protestant Reformation in Geneva, a once independent city-state which became part of Switzerland in 1815.

As the official website for the Calvin celebrations, www.calvin09.org is now running two competitions. The first invites musicians to compose a hymn for the anniversary year. The second challenges people to submit "the most interesting, substantial and catching sermon" that offers "new, surprising perspectives" on Calvin's significance today.

Protestant churches around the world are planning a wide range of events to mark the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth.

"We are eager to receive information that can be shared through this Web site concerning the various events being planned all around the world to mark Calvin's 500th birthday," said Kirkpatrick. "We hope and dream that calvin09.org will be as stimulating and relevant for the 21st century as the theology of John Calvin itself!"

The committee of patrons for the website is made up of 18 representatives from academic and church institutions. It includes, as co-chairpersons, Charlotte Kuffer, vice-president of the Protestant Church of Geneva, and the Rev Thomas Wipf, president of the Swiss Protestant federation.

The "perpetual virginity of Mary" is LIGHT YEARS away from the outright blasphemy that namess Mary as a coredemtrix and "dispenstrix of all graces" and an intercessor between God and men.

Even if Mary remained a virgin her entire life, she was STILL a sinner in need of a Savior, STILL born in sin as ALL men and women are, and her body is STILL in the ground awaiting the return of Jesus Christ.

Calvin looked askance at the celebration of Christmas in his day because of the corrupting of that celebration by Roman Catholicism (see I. VanDellen and M. Monsma, The Church Order Commentary, Zondervan, 1941, p. 273).

He did not, however, flatly forbid it as a transgression of the second commandment.

As I noted in my review of Wulfert de Greef's The Writings of John Calvin: An Introductory Guide (Baker, 1993), Calvin went along with the Geneva church's observance of the four great feast days that did not fall on a Sunday, including Christmas.

When the Council decided to abolish these observances, Calvin wrote a correspondent that, if he had been asked for advice, he would not have supported this decision (see de Greef, The Writings of John Calvin, p. 57). -- David S. Cason

No Orthodox Church beleives Mary is a “a mediatrix or co-redemptress”. Further the Orthodox assuredly beleive Mary needed to be saved, which is why she says in Holy Scripture that Christ has saved all of us (inclusive) instead of all of you.

"Many people who profess to be Calvinists are surprised to learn that while John Calvin was opposed to the bad things that have sometimes come to be associated with Christmas, he wasnt against keeping the holiday as a celebration of the birth of Christ and saw it as a matter of liberty for the churches and the individual.

We can gain insight into Calvins views by reading two letters, one written on January 2, 1551; the other in March of 1555. The relevant portions are below, followed by the full contents of both letters. One may observe that Calvins understanding of the Regulative Principle of Worship is not so much focused on the kind of uniform, narrowly limited kind of worship that came to be the legacy of Puritanism, but on protecting the liberty of local congregations and individuals. One must never forget that liberty of conscience, under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking in the Scripture, is a fundamental of fundamentals for John Calvin..."

One of our Sundays School men was talking about listening to John MacArthur preaching recently in Calvin’s pulpit in Geneva. What caught me was that someone commented that MacArthur was the first Calvinist to preach there in years.

It had been a procession of buddhists, universalists, hippies, and dippies.

Even if Mary remained a virgin her entire life, she was STILL a sinner in need of a Savior, STILL born in sin as ALL men and women are, and her body is STILL in the ground awaiting the return of Jesus Christ.

God who is without sin, was formed and grew amidst sin?

No, where God is, sin isn't. Conversely, where God isn't, sin is.

It always amazes me that those who preach the absolute dominion of God can't appreciate that God freely chose Mary for a reason. God was not obligated in any way to come to us through a woman, nor to involve humans in his work. God, being God had no need of a humble Jewish girl. Yet he chose to be formed in her womb, dependent on her "yes" to the Angel Gabriel and to be "subject to her".

Interesting, no?

Sometimes I think Calvinists have missed the whole beauty and wonder of the redemption, especially its humble, human means.

Further the Orthodox assuredly beleive Mary needed to be saved, which is why she says in Holy Scripture that Christ has saved all of us (inclusive) instead of all of you.

Yes, the Catholic Church also believes that, and is encapsulated in the doctrine in the Immaculate Conception, which states that the merits of Christ's Redemptive Acts were applied to Mary preemptively.

Also, it should be clarified, if memory serves, that the Orthodox believe that Mary never committed one personal sin.

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